Rather than one type of event focused on one part of the country, this year’s disasters were spread over several regions. Climate change may have worsened some of the events this year, including drought in the northern Plains and wildfires in the West. In a warming world, soils dry out more from evaporation, making droughts worse and further drying

Climate change is increasing the trend in weather and climate extremes in the U.S. A NOAA/NCEI report indicates that through September, the U.S. has had 15 individual billion-dollar weather disasters in 2017. Only 2011 had more billion-dollar disasters with 16, and that was through the entire year. Even without the final calculations from Harvey,

Summer in Arizona and throughout the Southwest is monsoon season, which means a daily pattern of afternoon thunderstorms, flash floods, dramatic dust clouds and spectacular displays of lightning over the desert. As the climate changes, Arizona’s monsoon rainfall is becoming more intense even as daily average rainfall in parts of the state has

Late spring is the peak of the severe weather season. Case in point are the twisters that spun up on the Southern Plains to the Ohio Valley earlier this week. The preliminary count includes 26 tornadoes reported on Monday, and 34 tornadoes reported on Tuesday. Some of the most striking damage comes on outbreak days, or days with multiple tornadoes

As forecasters had expected and warned for days, damaging thunderstorms formed Tuesday afternoon and evening in the Southern Plains. Even a few days ahead of time, the ingredients appeared to be coming together for a large severe weather outbreak there, and there was legitimate concern for numerous tornadoes developing from Kansas to Texas.

After spring storms tore through the Dallas-Forth Worth area on Monday evening, social media lit up with photos of chunks of hail the size of golf balls, tennis balls and even softballs and the damage they caused to windows, roofs and cars. Such sizable hail — the largest of which was reported at 4.25 inches in diameter — isn’t unusual in this

While parts of the western U.S. seem to have skipped ahead to winter, with snow blanketing areas from Washington to Colorado, unsettled weather more reminiscent of spring is in store early in the week for parts of the Southern Plains and South. The spate of storms — sometimes including tornadoes — is a fairly typical feature of November. Fall

Heavy downpours and flash flooding events continue to increase in different areas of the United States. These specific type of events have increased between 10 to 40 percent in the Mid-South since 1958. (Kentucky, 16 percent; Tennessee, 14 percent; Missouri, 38 percent and Illinois, 12 percent.) We don't have to look back too far in the records

It’s that time of year again when flowers bloom, ice starts to find its way into coffee and afternoon strolls are a must. Ah, spring. Yet for all the wonders warmer temperatures can bring, there are a few downsides. Allergies for one. But those are just a minor nuisance compared to severe weather and the tornadoes it can spawn that generally